


Birthday Breakfast

by HMS_Chill



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Alex's birthday, Birthday Fluff, Breakfast in Bed, Domestic Fluff, Domesticity, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, It's just vibes my guy, M/M, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23350585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMS_Chill/pseuds/HMS_Chill
Summary: It's Alex's birthday, and Henry is going to surprise him with breakfast in bed, and it's going to be beautiful and domestic and perfect.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Comments: 22
Kudos: 181





	Birthday Breakfast

The best thing about Alex's birthday coming after Henry's is that, if Alex has a particularly sweet birthday idea, Henry can borrow it and claim that it was part of his plan all along. In his defense, Henry had a birthday plan in place back in January. They're taking the weekend to go camping upstate, a celebration that starts the minute they both get off work, but he hasn't figured out how to tell Alex about it yet. All Alex knows is that he's not supposed to plan anything for the weekend. Luckily, Alex has the perfect idea without even knowing it. 

On Henry's birthday, Alex woke him up with a full English breakfast in bed, going one step farther to include actual crumpets unlike any Henry's seen since he moved to New York. Somehow, Alex had managed to make crumpets exactly the way Henry likes them, down to the blackcurrant jam, and he'd kept them a complete surprise. And, while Henry's not the best cook, he knows Alex deserves to be pampered the same way. A nice breakfast tray with the booking confirmation postcard will be the perfect start to Alex's morning and the perfect reveal of their weekend plans.

The first task of the morning is to get himself awake and out of bed without waking Alex. Morning Alex is a stunning sight, and waking up next to him still feels like a blessing every time it happens. They'd spent so long waking up on different continents and in different time zones, just being together every morning feels miraculous. But this morning, Henry doesn't have time to revel in it, only to whisper a quiet thanks to Santa Maria, realizing as he gets up that it's something he's picked up from Alex. He presses a gentle kiss to Alex's forehead, sees the way he shifts and reaches for Henry's now-empty side of the bed and settles for curling around one of Henry's pillows like a koala. He's still pretty deeply asleep, which means that hopefully, Henry will be able to make breakfast before Alex wakes up. 

Henry gets to the kitchen, and he takes a second to figure out where to start. He'd debated doing huevos rancheros, but he knows he'd do them wrong; the Diaz family recipe for them is infuriatingly vague and guarded like a dragon's treasure. So instead, he's opted for crepes, based on a recipe he's got on his phone. They look simple enough, and the crepe spreader he'd ordered online came in two days ago, so he's as ready as he can be. 

The actual process of making the batter is quick and easy, and before he knows it, he's pouring a careful scoop into the skillet for crepe number one. It goes surprisingly well. It's not the best crepe he's ever seen, but it isn't burnt or raw, and he'll settle for that for now. The second crepe works, too, and the third. And while the fourth is cooking, he decides he should probably start on the fillings. They only put sugar on the crepes they'd had in Paris, that weekend when they'd woken up together and the whole world had seemed beautiful and perfect, but Henry doesn't trust his crepes to be that good. So instead, he's got all sorts of fresh fillings and different spreads, and he's bringing the whole mini crepe bar to Alex. He pours crepe number four, then goes to the refrigerator for all the fresh fruit he'd stocked up on the day before. There are blueberries and strawberries and raspberries and bananas, all ready to be cut up and moved to little bowls for Alex to construct his own perfect crepes. 

Crepe four is less than perfect; it gets a bit burnt while he's getting fruit ready, but Henry forges on, starting bacon for a savory option and coffee to go on the side. He finds the confirmation postcard from the campground and writes on the back, "'I live for Friday, & you. My man-- my beloved man'-- Benjamin Britten to Peter Pears, c. 1941". The next step is to flip a crepe and get back to chopping fruit, and Henry starts to fall into a rhythm, sorting different spreads and sauces into the right containers and getting them and the fruit all settled onto the tray. He manages to keep flipping crepes when they need it, and he's rather proud of his ability to multitask, even fitting in a quick run up to their bedroom to make sure that Alex is still asleep. 

When he first starts to smell something burning, he flips the crepe and it's not that, so he assumes he must be imagining things. It's his paranoia that makes it seem smoky in the kitchen. That is, he's assuming it's just his paranoia, until his phone lights up with a notification from their security system: "Smoke detected in the kitchen!"

A moment later, the fire alarm blares. 

The bacon. Oh god. It's black and smoking like anything. Henry pulls it off the stove and immediately douses the charred remains in water, but the massive puff of steam only makes everything worse. He opens a window and frantically tries to wave the smoke out, barely remembering to get the crepe off the heat before it makes the situation even worse. When the alarm is finally quiet and things have calmed down, he turns around to see Alex appearing in the doorway to the kitchen, all bed head and rumpled pajama pants, tired blinking and massive yawns.

"H? Everything okay, baby? It smells like smoke."

"I... I made breakfast. It was supposed to be a nice breakfast in bed, but um... I'm sorry. Happy birthday anyway?"

The concern melts from Alex's face, and he crosses the kitchen to pull Henry in for a hug. "I love you so much. Want me to go back to bed and pretend I'm still asleep so you can wake me up and surprise me?"

Henry smiles, presses a kiss to Alex's forehead, and says, "well, that would mean you'd have to leave, and that's never something I want. Just... sit down, and it'll be ready soon. I'm sorry I woke you, and that there won't be bacon." 

He turns back to the tray as Alex says, "don't be sorry. I love you." Instead of sitting down at the table and waiting, Alex wraps his arms around his boyfriend, nuzzling his face into Henry's shoulder. "I'll just fall asleep right here; you wake me up when you're ready."

Henry laughs, helpless to do anything else, and Alex hugs him a little more tightly. True to his word, he stays glued to Henry's back as Henry moves everything onto the tray, arranging it just so and making sure that the note is unmissable, dusting the crepes with powdered sugar and adding their coffee and tea. Once it's all ready, he turns to kiss the top of Alex's head, running his hands through Alex's hair gently. 

"It's ready. Good morning, love. Happy birthday." And yes, this is a day about celebrating Alex. Technically, all the gifts should go to him. But as far as Henry's concerned, every second he gets to spend with Alex this close is a gift all its own.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi it's Alex's birthday and these boys deserve the best. That's it; that's the author's note.  
> -  
> As always, I'm [HMS-Chill](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hms-chill) on tumblr for fic stuff, and I'd love to chat either there or here. Thanks y'all!


End file.
